Post-game notes, quotes

NEW YORK RANGERS POST-GAME NOTES
October 27, 2011 (Game 8, Home Game 1)
Madison Square Garden – New York, New York

Team Notes:

-The Rangers were defeated by the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-2, tonight in the Blueshirts’ home opener at Madison Square Garden.
-New York held Toronto scoreless in four power play opportunities (5:24), and are now 20-22 (90.9%) while shorthanded in the last five games.
-The Rangers were credited with 19 blocked shots, led by Dan Girardi and Michael Sauer who recorded three blocked shots apiece.

Player Notes:

-Dan Girardi opened the game’s scoring with an even strength goal while skating four on four at 6:23 of the first period. He also tied for the game-high with three blocked shots in 23:03 of ice time. Girardi has now registered four points (one goal, three assists) in the last four games, and is tied for first among team defensemen in points (four) and ranks first in assists (three).

-Michael Del Zotto notched an unassisted goal at 15:26 of the third period, registered a team-high-tying three hits, and was credited with two blocked shots in 19:51 of ice time. He has now tallied a point in each of the last two games (one goal, one assist). Del Zotto also extended his streak of posting a plus or even rating to eight consecutive games to begin the season, and leads the team with a plus-four rating.

-Marian Gaborik recorded the primary assist, his first of the season, on Girardi’s first period goal, and registered four shots on goal and two blocked shots in a season-high, 23:14 of ice time. He is now tied for the team lead in points (five) and shots on goal (32), and ranks first in goals (four).

-Artem Anisimov also tallied an assist on Girardi’s first period goal, and is now tied for third on the team in assists (three).

-Henrik Lundqvist stopped 32 of 36 shots, and has now posted a record of 2-3-2 with a 2.14 goals against average, a .934 save percentage and one shutout. He has now turned aside 30 or more shots in four of his last five games. Lundqvist is 4-1-1 with a 2.72 goals against average and a .918 save percentage in six career home-opening games at Madison Square Garden.

-Ryan Callahan led all skaters with six shots on goal, tied for the team-high with three hits and logged 20:56 of ice time while making his Broadway debut as Rangers’ captain.

-Michael Sauer tied for the game-high with three blocked shots in 21:42 of ice time while making his return to the lineup after missing the previous five games due to a shoulder injury sustained on October 8.

-Brad Richards led the Rangers with 23:54 of ice time and registered three shots on goal while making his Broadway debut. He now leads all team forwards and ranks third on the Rangers in average ice time (21:18).

-Brandon Dubinsky won six of eight faceoff attempts (75%), and now leads the team with a 55.4% faceoff winning percentage (56-101)

Post-Game Quotes:

–John Tortorella on tonight’s game…

“I think we had juice just coming back home and playing in front of the crowd and all the things going on around us. The first period was probably our best period of the year.”

–Ryan Callahan on tonight’s game…

“I thought we had a pretty good first period with some sustained pressure. We created some opportunities and got a lot of pucks to the net, which we wanted to do, as well as get some bodies to the net in the first (period)… The crowd was great and definitely gave us a lift in the first period.”

–Henrik Lundqvist on the atmosphere in Madison Square Garden…

“It was great. It’s always great to play here. Coming back here after so many games on the road, we definitely were looking for a better start. But we have to forget about this one and get ready for Saturday.”

Torts has always had a beef with Avery. You knew when he came to this town he was going to try to marginalize him. He sat him in the playoffs after that bad penalty and all our playoff hopes went down the drain. Every time the guy takes a bad penalty he benches him for games at a time. He gives him very few minutes a game as well. For Sean Avery to be the Sean Avery we came to know and love years ago he needs to be set free!

Lundqvist loves him because other teams would take shots at Hank constantly, yet none of our players would give it back. Avery immediately stepped in and made the other team feel uncomfortable. Bumping goalies, talking trash, and taking it to the other team. We talk about this team playing better when there’s some snarl to the game…guess who brings snarl to the game? Sean Avery! At least when he’s not handcuffed by Torts.

Sometimes things just work. Avery and NY belong together. It’s not necessarily any one thing he does well, and it’s not even necessarily something you can easily quantify. But most Ranger fans, and the crowd showed it tonight, understand that when he steps on the ice something changes. It was instantaneous…

he’s not old, yet he’s suddenly significantly less effective than he was? Torts came to town and cut off Avery’s balls, stuck them in a jar in his office and gave him 7 minutes a game if he was playing. Of course he’s not the same player he was before. Let the guy skate, talk trash, bump goalies, take dumb penalties, drive the crowd wild and do his NY magic

callahan or dubi or stepan or aa or boyles suckiness has nothing to do with no avery unless avery is really ovechkin.

all the firwards suck except gabby and the d men especially MDZ love to play patty cake in there own zone. erixon is doing fine but is 21 and jsut hanging on. attack, forecheck, dump the puck, how friggin complicated is that??????

absolutely right, Shawn. but Torts hated Avery before he even became Rangers coach. he said so on TSN when he was the analyst there in the studio right after Avery made his sloppy comments, and right before Torts was hired by the Rangers. so it is no surprise that he has tried to neuter him ever since he took over, and I saw the preseason games, and Avery was one of the more effective Rangers in those games, but was cut anyway. Torts had no intention of keeping him this year no matter if he had scored 3 hat tricks in the preseason games. the die was cast, and the spark is gone.

ahole Shanahan is ruining this league. look no further than Cally to see what his suspension bullcrap is doing. Cally is not the same player, it is obvious, because he is afraid to hit guys with abandon against the boards like he used to because if they turn at the last minute, the hitter gets suspended. you can see it all over the league, the games are tame, the hitting is softer, and guys are tiptoeing into the corners and half-assing their checks to avoid suspension or fines.

Trip has been awesome thank you!!! Sorry i missed you guys at the flying puck!!
Freakin weather, and i had no idea where it was!! Did go with BANJ after the game for some dinner! Hopefully back up in April

Eleven years. No Ranger GM has lasted this long with this poor a record. Blame Dolan, but Sather is the cause. He’s the “Hockey Guy”. He’s supposed to know. Dolan knows squat. Not even when to fire Sather.

Olga, I think Neil Smith lasted 11 years and he won a Cup, and I think he was there as long as Emile Francis, maybe a little longer. And those two were the longest tenured GMs since Lester Patrick. Not sure about those numbers, but you can look ’em up.

It’s tough to build a crowd momentum when the crowd watches displays of amateurish playing behavior ( this is the most in adept passing team that I can recall ever playing here.)
They looked terrible…and I know that the boo birds will be on Christensen’s case, but he was no worse nor better than the others. There was no attack mode and there was little professionalism. Pick a name. I keep comparing them with other teams I’ve been watching in the league and the Leafs were not the potent force that they appeared to be, it was just a case of the Ranger ineptitude that made them look that way. And it starts with the passing ( or lack of it.) Amateurish is a kind word to describe it. Where did they get these coaches?

It’s gonna be a long season if this keeps up. Put some
reality into the comments that look for excuses…there are none. They looked like a minor league team. Period. The passing was bad enough but the inexcusable giveaways!

They need to right the ship soon, and hopefully that will happen on the homestand. For the past few years they have been decent in o tober and then we had the november to february swoon. I will trade a crappy october for them playing better the rest of the season, but at least show up for all three periods! Don’t abandon ship just yet people, i honestly think better days are close by!!